Slayers
by slayercrazy144
Summary: Sorry about the title. It seems AU, but it's not. The PG is from a tiny amount of violence, that's all. Everything will be explained. Faith and Buffy's lives are not the way we know them. But things start to go wrong...
1. Faith

"My boys!" Faith called out to the twins running towards her. She scooped them up in her arms and then kissed hello to her husband, waiting at the door with a fork in his hand.

"We're having stir-fry for tea," he said, waving it around, "You'll have to excuse me or it's gonna burn."

"Did you have fun at school today?" Faith asked her sons. She knew the answer would be a screaming 'yes' and that she should enjoy it while it lasted. Before long, they'd be over the excitement, and she'd be putting up with complaints about teachers, homework, and who knows what else. Sure enough, Jacob said 'yes' in a sing-song voice, and Ben went on to tell her about the new game they had learnt that day. The boys followed Faith into the living room, where she ritualistically dumped her bags and took off her work shoes.

"Honey, that smells great," she sighed happily, walking to the kitchen with her sons on her hips.

Faith turned the corner into the living room and screamed. She shielded Ben and Jacob's eyes and stared at the scene in front of her. Her husband Robert lay on the floor, bleeding in gushes from his neck. The kitchen was covered in blood, and the smell was over-powering, mixed with the burning stir-fry. Faith put down her boys and rushed to his side, aiming to check for a pulse. By the time she got there, however, she knew there was no way he was alive. She turned back to see Jacob sobbing at the door. She ran to him.

"Don't look honey. Go with Ben into the living room and turn on the TV." The boy did as he was asked and Faith ran to call 911. The rest of the night was a blur for all three of them. The police came to take the body, and asked some questions. "How long was he alone, do you know of anyone who would want to kill Robert, did you see anything suspicious..." Faith answered these questions in a daze. They all slept together that night, but Faith didn't sleep. She just stared blankly into space, feeling sad, scared, alone, but most of all...

She felt anger.


	2. Buffy

"Just a minute," Buffy called out to Greg, waiting at the door, "I haven't finished packing up yet. She raced around the kitchen wiping down the last counter, and grabbed her coat.

"I'm ready," she leant in to give Greg a kiss, but he pulled back.

"What?" she asked, offended.

"You still have that stupid hat on."

Buffy reached up and pulled off her chef's hat, hanging it on a nearby hook.

"They make me wear that you know."

"Honey, you own the restaurant, and you're the head chef. You are the 'they'."

Buffy grinned and said, "Does it make me look cute?"

Greg sighed, frustrated at her. "It makes you look how you always look. It makes you look like a chef. Now hurry up or we'll lose our reservations."

He stormed out of the building, and Buffy followed him, curious as to why he had snapped at her like that.

"Finally!" Buffy called when their food arrived, desperate to break an uncomfortable silence. "My cooks would never take this long, I mean it's just soup for crying out loud!" Buffy laughed nervously.

"God Buffy, do you have to constantly talk about work?" Greg slammed his drink down on the table and turned away. Buffy was a little taken aback by this.

"Sorry sweetie, I was just making conversation..."

"Buffy, that's what I came here to talk to you about. I think we should stop seeing each-other."

Her eyes opened wide in surprise.

"It's just that your life is all about your work, and that's good, but I can't compete with it. I'm sorry, really."

Buffy just sat there in shock, fighting back tears. "How can you say that?"

"You know it's true. I was going to wait until after dinner, but I think I'm just going to leave now. Here's some money for the bill." He threw a pile of money on the table and quietly left Buffy alone to sob silently.


	3. Edmund

"Did you do it?"

"Sir..."

"I don't believe you realize the importance of this. We thought the slayer had been lost, and now we realize they've both been right under our noses this whole time?"

"Wasn't there any other way?" Edmund's mind was racing. He had killed a man. Not just a man, he had killed a husband and a father. But if it was true, and that one death would bring back the slayer, even two slayers... Was it worth it? The theory was that some vampire had changed the lives of the slayers. And this one, Faith, used to have no family, no-one to live for. But was killing the people she cared about really the right way to turn her back? The other slayer, Buffy, wasn't so bad. The vampire who did this had been smart with her. See, for her it was quite the opposite, it was her friends which kept her going. So the vampire made her a workaholic. She only had time for one guy and that was all. At least the council was a little more subtle here. They put a spell on Buffy's man to make him leave her, hoping that that would jolt her into quitting. But Edmund couldn't stop thinking about the fear in Faith's husband's eyes as he...

"Now we need to finish the job."

"What?" Edmund was confused. "Haven't we done enough?"

"Faith, she doesn't have the anger we're told she once did. She still has something holding her back."

"The children?"

"Yes. Think of how many lives this slayer could save, just for a small sacrifice."

"No. I won't."

"Then we'll just send someone else to do it."

"Can't we give her some more time?"

"The world is out of balance. We're already past time. If you won't do it, someone else will."

"Fine."

Edmund had no intention of killing the two boys. Going against the council's orders he could pay a harsh penalty, but nothing worth the guilt. So he went. He collected his weapon. He received co-ordinates. And he went. Straight to Faith.

"Who are you?" Faith was not in the mood for talking. For one thing, she hadn't slept for two days, and had just driven 5 hours to drop her children at their grandparents' house.

"I'm the man who killed your husband."

So many questions ran through Faith's head at that moment. 'What are you going to do to me,' 'Why did you do it,' 'Who are you?' She didn't know what to say, so she didn't say anything. She hit him.

"I deserved that," Edmund was about to say, but he got cut off as Faith hit him again and again. She sobbed as she hit him until she fell in a heap on the floor. Now she spoke.

"What do you want?"

Edmund spat out blood and painfully pulled a note out of his pocket. He ran away as Faith read it. It explained all about her slayer heritage, and whatever Edmund knew about the vampire who had changed realities like this. It wasn't much. It also explained what had happened to Buffy, and gave directions to her apartment. At the end, it said,

"Faith. I wrote all this down so that if you killed me you'd still find out the truth. And if you didn't kill me, you know you were holding back. I am a highly trained fighter, so you should have worked out your strength. I'm sure there are other clues as well. How many times have you looked lovingly at your children, and known, just known, that they weren't yours? How many times have you marveled at the wonderfulness of your mediocre life? You know in your heart that you have a sacred birth-right. I was supposed to murder your children tonight, but I didn't. I believe you can fight this thing without that grief. So go out, find Buffy, and prove me right. Go to Sunnydale. A vampire will be their named Kakistos. He is strong, but if you kill him, your lives will be back to normal.

Edmund"

Faith pocketed the note and climbed into her car.


	4. Meeting

Buffy sat cross-legged on the floor, sniffling and listening to her self-help tapes.

"You are your own person" the old english guy on the cover said to her.

"You are alone" is what she heard.

She sniffled again. Then she got up and smashed her cd player to bits. Then she sniffled over having to buy a new cd player. Finally, she took action.

A few minutes later, Buffy put down the phone. She was free. She had quit her job.

"Oh god, what have I done?"

Buffy grabbed the phone and got her job back again. Hell, she was the boss, she could do what she liked. This time she thought a bit more and just lessened her hours so she was still earning plenty of money, but would now actually have time for a life. And have a life is just what she would do. Buffy grabbed her bag and was about to step out the door and find somewhere to go when the doorbell rang.

"Hi" said the darkhaired girl who opened the door.  
"He...llo," Buffy replied, confused.  
"You're Buffy, right?"  
"Uh... How do you know my name?"

Faith paused, and tried to think of a way to explain this insane theory to a total stranger. Then she thought about just what it was that had convinced her.

Buffy had just looked away for a second and when she looked back, the girl's fist was coming towards her face. She instinctively grabbed it and threw her to the floor. Faith looked up at Buffy, her arm still being held, and said,

"You ever trained at martial arts?"  
"I have good instincts," she replied coldly.  
"Is that how you explain it?"

Buffy released Faith's arm and let her stand up.

"I don't like you coming into my home and throwing punches at me." "Believe me B, I don't want to be here."  
"Wait, what did you call me?"  
"Buffy. I called you Buffy, it's your name. You're a slayer."  
"A what? Who are you? How did you find me?"  
"I'm Faith. I'm... another slayer. Look, I know it sounds crazy but we're supposed to fight vampires, and right now we're supposed to be fighting one specific vampire, Kakistos or something, but he's put us under a spell and we think we're... us."

Buffy looked at this crazy girl and wondered why she had let her in in the first place. Okay, my life can start tommorow , Buffy thought to herself.

She physically grabbed Faith and chucked her out into the street.

"Next time you wanna bug someone, make it someone else!" she yelled out to her.

Buffy walked inside and locked the door firmly behind her. She went and found another cd player, and started listening to her self-help tapes again.


	5. Kakistos

"Kakistos," Denn bowed down to his master. "I bring news of the Slayers."  
"Slayers!" Kakistos growled, "Has the spell been broken?"  
"Not exactly. The council has intervened. They --"  
Kakistos laughed. "The council! Mindless twerps. How can they stand against my power?"  
"After searching years for the 'lost Slayer', they discovered our spell. They have begun a plan to restore the Slayer lineage. They are attempting to break the Slayers from their traps, return them to who they were."

Kakistos sat back in his chair and thought about this for a while.

"Send someone to kill them. If it took the Watchers this long to find them, they'll take this long again. Kill them and re-cast the spell on the next one."

Denn hesitated. He thought the Watcher's Council weren't as stupid as they looked. Each time they had to search for the slayer they would get better at it. Normally the Slayers don't know about who they are, but the Council can find them with seers and the like. Kakistos' minions had cast a spell to take the Slayers out of their lives and into another. It meant that the Council had a harder time of finding them for one, but each new life had been tailored to suit each slayer, and limit their potential. Faith had been given a perfect life, including a new childhood, and a family of her own, destroying her anger and passion for the fight. Buffy had just been given something else to consume her life. She had fought for her friends and family, so they had been taken away from her. But Kakistos wasn't stupid. He didn't want Buffy to be unhappy. If Buffy was unhappy he could have just been stuck with another Faith. Buffy becoming a workaholic was the perfect solution.

If the council was smart enough to figure that out, they weren't stupid.

But neither was Denn. So he simply bowed and left off to kill the slayers. Hell, it wasn't HIS problem.


End file.
